Kimberley Appropriate Economics Interim Report - Australian ...

as your starting point you come up with the sensible model which says that the economy is a means to an end,
it’s a part of society, an important part but only a part. There are things we expect from society – security, a
sense of community, cultural identity, companionship and love – which are not even in principle part of the
economy. Our society is totally enclosed within and depends on natural systems. The economy gives us some
things we need, but mostly it gives us things we have to be persuaded to want, whereas the natural system gives
us the things we really need – air to breathe, water to drink, the capacity to produce food, our cultural identity
and spiritual sustenance. So I hope that in thinking about economic development opportunities we recognise
they need to be encased within the aspirations of our society, which in turn need to be kept within the limits of
natural ecological systems.
In that sense this Round Table is obviously important for the Kimberley region. It is important for developing
ways to go forward that will give economic security consistent with your culture and social aspirations. But I
think it is even more important than that. I think it is also a model for wider Australian society of how we should
be thinking about economic development. Far too often we think about economic development and then worry
about how we can cope with the social strains and the environmental disruptions that it causes.
More generally, for Australia as a whole, we should be trying to think of economic development as a means of
nurturing and sustaining our cultural traditions and our social aspirations, so in turn we should see that our
primary duty is to nurture the natural systems of Australia. In that sense we are not just talking about economic
opportunities, we are talking about values: the sort of Australia we want to be, the sort of community we want to
be and how we ensure that the development choices sustain and nurture those values.
We are obviously here to respect the values of the local people, and to learn from them and work together for
mutual benefit so in that sense, like Joe I am a supreme optimist. He said you have to be an optimist to be an
indigenous person because of the history of Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people. In the same sense
you have to be a supreme optimist to be working as an activist in environmental protection or social justice.
We also have strong forces ranged against us. But I would remind you that as a supreme optimist, we have seen
some of the most optimistic things happen in recent times. We’ve seen the Berlin Wall come down; we’ve seen
apartheid end; we’ve seen millions of hectares of Queensland country being returned to Traditional Owners;
and these are outcomes I didn’t believe I would live to see in my lifetime. And it is a reminder of what Margaret
Mead said ‘You should never doubt the capacity of a small group of determined people to change the world
because after all that is the only thing that has ever changed the world for the better – a small group of people
determined to produce a better world.
This Roundtable is the outcome of a process that has been going on between the three organising groups
for some time and it mirrors a similar process on Cape York. Its now nearly two years since the Cape York
Roundtable and there has been real progress since then on the major issues that underpin development like
land tenure, like return of country, like organising legal framework for ownership. I am a supreme optimist
because I have seen the outcomes of the Cape York Roundtable and I have seen in the struggle of people
determined to produce a better Australia, that by working together we can make a difference and we can
produce the kind of Australia that we want for future generations.
Thank you for being here and best wishes for your work over the next two days.
40